This paper investigates the ability of Morningstar superannuation fund ratings to predict future performance in the context of the Australian superannuation fund industry. In this context, we make provisions for fund size and fund age. We draw three broad conclusions. First, fund ratings can assist in predicting funds that are likely to significantly underperform in subsequent periods. Second, the ratings are mostly unable to distinguish between highly and moderately performing funds. Third, the likelihood of a fund being highly rated is negatively related to the size of assets under management and positively related to its age. Accordingly, the paper should be of benefit not only to fund managers seeking to identify underperforming funds, but also to fund advisers, retail investors, and trustee boards choosing SF products for investment choice menus.

Digital networks are transforming the way in which our built environment is planned, designed, and developed. Whilst many have heralded this technology as a solution to the problems of citizen engagement and participation in planning and design processes, the state of public participation in this field still arguably leaves much to be desired. In the last decade, academics and practitioners have explored the possibilities of 3D, multi-user, digital environments in planning and urban design contexts. These “inhabited virtual spaces,” where stakeholders are represented through digital avatars, hold the possibility of engaging a much wider audience in participatory processes, creating a more democratic and bottom-up process, and improving the outcome of community consultations. These multi-user environments can take many forms—and among the most promising are game environments. The benefits of using play and games in creative tasks and decision-making have been widely recorded, leading to the developing field of “serious games,” games which have been designed to accomplish a serious task. Despite this, there has been a reluctance to entertain the idea of appropriating more commercial and widely played games for serious tasks, rather than designing ones from scratch. One game in particular, Minecraft, has shown promising results as part of a participatory design methodology pioneered by UN-Habitat and the Block by Block Foundation. Through an analysis of this program, I will explore how the videogame<em> </em>Minecraft might be used as an innovative tool to improve public participation in urban design, whilst offering a virtual alternative to traditional models of consultation.

To use electron spectroscopy for qualitative analysis, it is important to consider both the energies and relative intensities of the bands in an electron spectrum. Considerable attention has been paid to photoelectron energies; Siegbahn et al. (I) have compiled a very useful table of the binding energies for the various subshells of the elements 1 to 104. As an aid to analytical chemists, we present the photoionization cross sections of the elements in graphic form. This graph serves two purposes. First, it provides a quick determination of which orbital of an element will have the largest photoionization cross section. Second, it can be used along with binding energies in confirming elemental analysis of an unknown.In performing a qualitative analysis of the bands in an electron spectrum, one naturally uses Siegbahn's table to effect an identification of the various elements present in the sample. Often times, there are peaks which are energetically close together or peaks that could correspond to two or more elements. In these cases, we have found it particularly useful to use the relative cross sections in conjunction with the binding energies to obtain elemental assignments. Assignments must be consistent with regards to relative band intensities as well as binding energies.Our experiences indicate that it is usually sufficient to know only the approximate relative intensities to be expected for the bands in order to make a qualitative analysis. We have found that a plot of the elemental subshell cross sections vs. atomic number is very useful for quick analysis of spectra. The purpose of this communication is to present this plot for use in analyzing electron spectra.The theoretical photoionization cross sections per electron for each subshell of the elements are presented in Figure 1. The cross sections were obtained from the compilation of Scofield ( 2 ) , who used relativistic Hartree-Fock-Slater wave functions to calculate the cross section for each atomic subshell at excitation energies from 1.0 to 1500 keV. The plot in Figure 1 consists of the cross section per electron for the lowest energy (most intense) spin-orbital component at an excitation energy of 1500 eV (approximating that of A1 K a at 1486 eV). Actually, interpolation of Scofield's values shows that the relative subshell cross sections a t 1486 or 1254 eV (Mg KD) are very close to those at 1500 eV. The cross sections in the figure are in barns and each is divided by the number of electrons in that particular spin orbit component.We propose that the table in Ref. 2 be used as follows. After analyzing the energetic positions of peaks in an electron spectrum, one has a good idea of the elemental composition of the sample. In order to confirm this analysis, the approximate relative intensities of the peaks should be Present address: PPG Industries, Pittsburgh, Pa.compared to the curves in Figure 1. Agreement between energies and intensities provides a cogent elemental analysis. Many of the cross sections vary by as much as four orders of magnitu...

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